Joe Franklin

This article is about the talk show host. For the public radio performance artist, see Joe Frank.
Joe Franklin

Franklin in 2007
Born Joseph Fortgang
(1926-03-09)March 9, 1926
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died January 24, 2015(2015-01-24) (aged 88)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Cause of death Prostate cancer
Alma mater Columbia University
Occupation Television and radio personality

Joe Franklin (born Joseph Fortgang; March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015) was an American radio and television host personality from New York City. His show began in January 1951 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV) and moved to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV) from 1962 to 1993.[1]

Early life

Franklin was born Joseph Fortgang in the Bronx, to Jewish parents.[2] As a teenager, Franklin "followed around" Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, the latter of whom eventually began buying jokes from the young Franklin and whose Carnegie Hall show he later produced.

Career

At 14, Franklin began writing skits for The Kate Smith Hour and at 16, Franklin officially began his entertainment career as a record picker on radio sensation Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom where he became known as "The Young Wreck with the Old Records". He was considered to be an authority on popular culture of the first half of the 20th century, including silent films. He was called "The King of Nostalgia" and "The Wizard of Was" for focusing on old-time show-business personalities. Franklin was also a pioneer in promoting products such as Hoffman Beverages and Canada Dry ginger ale on the air. A&E's documentary It's Only Talk, The Real Story Of America's Talk Shows credits Franklin as the creator of the television talk show. Franklin was listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest running continuous on-air TV talk show host, more than a decade longer than Johnny Carson's run.[3]

After retiring from his television show, Franklin concentrated on his overnight radio show, playing old records on WOR-AM on Saturday evenings and mentoring thousands of aspiring entertainers who for decades sought an audience with him at his notoriously cluttered Times Square office. Franklin's celebrity interviews, known as "Nostalgia Moments", appeared daily on the Bloomberg Radio Network until mid-January 2015, shortly before his death.[4]

Famous guests

Franklin's guests included an odd mix of actual celebrities and low level performers, sometimes on the same panel. He claimed to have had Charlie Chaplin on his program, a dubious statement since Chaplin left the USA in 1952, shortly after Franklin's TV debut. Other guest claims include John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe (with whom Franklin co-authored "The Marilyn Monroe Story" in 1953), Jayne Mansfield, Cary Grant, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Rudy Vallee, Jimmy Durante, Madonna, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bing Crosby, The Belmonts, Elvis Presley, The Ramones, Lou Albano and five U.S. Presidents (including John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon).[5] As with the Chaplin claim, some of these guests' appearances were unable to be independently confirmed based on a lack of evidence, since still pictures taken on the set do not exist for several of the people listed, and little video from before the 1970s survives. Bette Midler was the show's in-house singer for a time. Franklin never employed a co-host, but his producer, Richie Ornstein, was a standard feature on the Joe Franklin Show who interacted with guests and discussed trivia.[1]

Woody Allen, Andy Kaufman, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Julia Roberts, Bruce Springsteen, Robin Williams, John Belushi and Richard Pryor got their first television exposure on The Joe Franklin Show. Frank Sinatra reportedly appeared four times. In December 2000, Joe Franklin and producer Steve Garrin joined restaurant mogul Dennis Riese to open "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane Restaurant" in Manhattan's theater district,[6] where he appeared frequently and conducted live, in-person interviews with entertainers such as Carol Channing, Anita O'Day and Billy Crystal, who impersonated Franklin on Saturday Night Live. Joe Franklin's Restaurant operated as a Comedy Club where many aspiring comics got their first stage time until February 2010.

In media

Franklin appeared as himself in such New York-based films as Ghostbusters, Broadway Danny Rose, and 29th Street. Franklin appeared on the first episode of This American Life giving host Ira Glass advice on how to have a successful show. He was also a guest on an early episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He also made appearances in various works by New York low-budget film company Troma Entertainment, making a cameo as himself in their 1999 meta-fictional slasher film Terror Firmer, as well as the 1993 infomercial The Troma System as the result of the commercial's host transforming into "the ultimate talk show host".

Franklin's show was first parodied by Billy Crystal during the 1984–1985 season of Saturday Night Live.

In 1997, Franklin was profiled in the documentary film 50,000,000 Joe Franklin Fans Can't Be Wrong (1997), directed by Joshua Brown.[7]

In the 2005 film The Aristocrats, comedian Sarah Silverman tells a facetious story about Franklin raping her as a child. Franklin, who also appears in the film, considered filing a defamation lawsuit against Silverman.[8]

In 2014, Franklin starred in Owen Kline and Andrew Lampert's short film Jazzy for Joe, which featured Franklin raising an abandoned baby discovered on his doorstep.[9]

Death

Franklin died of prostate cancer at a Manhattan hospice on January 24, 2015, aged 88.[10][11]

Selected books

References

  1. 1 2 Hinckley, David (November 26, 1999). "Joe Franklin: Truth in Packaging". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  2. ↑ Arnold, Laurence (January 25, 2015). "Joe Franklin, 'King of Nostalgia' on NYC Radio, TV, Dies at 88". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ "IMDB". Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Bloomberg Radio Shows: Bloomberg on the Weekend". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.theaterpizzazz.com/joe-franklin-talk-show-icon-dies/
  6. ↑ "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane Bar & Restaurant is NOW OPEN...", JoeFranklin.com; accessed January 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ "50,000,000 Joe Franklin Fans Can't Be Wrong". Paleycenter.org. The Paley Center for Media. 1998. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  8. ↑ Goodyear, Dana (October 24, 2005). "Quiet Depravity". The New Yorker.
  9. ↑ Adams, Cindy, New York Post, May 21, 2014, "Felicity Huffman to play a gritty mom on ‘American Crime’"; accessed January 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ James Barron (January 24, 2015). "Joe Franklin, Local Talk Show Pioneer, Dies at 88". New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2015. Joe Franklin ... died on Saturday in a hospice in Manhattan. He was 88. Steve Garrin, Mr. Franklin's producer and longtime friend, said the cause was prostate cancer. ...
  11. ↑ Sharpio, Rich (January 24, 2015). "Joe Franklin 'King of Nostalgia' dead at 88". New York Daily News. New York. Retrieved 2015-01-25.

External links

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